For the purpose of liquid leak prevention or wear comfort improvement of an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin, provision of a groove to a skin-contact surface of the absorbent article has been proposed (see Patent Literature 1). In an absorbent article disclosed in Patent Literature 1, small grooves are formed in a bottom portion of a groove, the small grooves being depressed further from the bottom portion of the groove. Since the groove is formed by a compression process, an absorber has a higher density at a portion between the bottom portion of the groove and a backsheet than at a portion where the groove is not formed. Further, the absorber has a higher density at a portion between a bottom portion of each small groove and the backsheet than at a portion between the bottom portion of the groove and the backsheet
It is generally known that an absorber has higher absorbability at a portion with a high density than at a portion with a low density. For this reason, in the absorbent article described in Patent Literature 1, the grooves can absorb body fluid and can thus block flow of the body fluid. Further, since the absorbent article is easily bendable along the grooves, a wearer can enjoy better wear comfort. Note that high absorbability means a high absorbing speed here.